I'm new to the world of watch winders. I purchased one today and I must admit it is not one of them expensive winders you see from Orbita, Wolf etc. I do like the design and the price was right.
I did some calculations and statistics.
The only clockwise setting my winder has (the Valjoux I read only winds clockwise) is: Rotate for 2 mins and rest for 6 mins then repeat.
That, if calculations are right, makes 2880 rotations a day (24 hours) at 8 rotations a minute.
Would this be considered safe and not put too much pressure on the 'overwind protection mechanism'?
Generally, you can't over wind on a winder. But here is what I did with one of my winders. I bought a cheap timer and adjusted it so the power would only be provided to the winder at night.
You can experiment with this by seeing if the watch stays fully wound. The best way is with a watch with a power reserve subdial where you can easily determine the effect of the winder.
check for magnetism though - for instance by moving a old-school compass near the winders. it shouldn't affect your ref 3717 but if the winder is magnetic it will over time magnetize all watches without an anti-magnetic cage, making them go faster than they should.
Hi Shing --you very well could be right but I've not heard of that. I also find Orbita, as mentioned here, to be a good brand and never had that problem with mine.
Hi Michael, as Sven mentioned his winder isn't the more expensive ones like Orbita or Wolf, etc - which is why I advised as such. My first two-watch winder costing about 80 USD purchased in Tokyo a few years ago was found to be overly magnetic when I tested it with a compass - as are many of the cheap ones sold in HOng Kong (made in China) -- the dealer even has a compass on hand to let you try. But you are right - I have not actually determined that any of my watches have been magnetized - could be that magnetization is a myth, or just that I avoided it. One of my sources is actually forum friend Jack Freedman's website:
[i]"Question: Can a cheap watch winder damage a watch?
Answer: Let's just say some winders can damage some watches. The most obvious way is for the winder to drop the watch because of sloppy mounting arrangements. Clearly, the watch to be wound must be totally secure on the winder, regardless of its type of strap or bracelet or the size of its owner's wrist. Then, the external magnetic field of a cheap winder can magnetize the watch. Not a total disaster but certainly a nuisance. A good winder must have no external magnetic field at the point where the watch is attached. We have seen cheap winders that leak oil (tough on that $300 crocodile strap), get hot, or begin to smoke if accidentally stalled for more than a minute.
But there is a more subtle and more prolonged type of damage an improperly designed winder can impose on a watch: stressing the automatic winding mechanism's overwind protection system. All automatic watches have means built into them to start the mainspring attachment slipping when the spring is almost fully wound. An improperly designed winder can force the watch's overwind protection mechanism to work overtime.
Depending on how long ago the watch was serviced and lubricated, eventually this can cause the watch to fail, intermittently or continuously. The watch begins to overbank -- the spring tension becomes so strong that the balance wheel begins to hit the "crash stops" at the ends of its travel, ricocheting back and forth in a way that can damage parts of the escapement. The process by which this happens is usually characterized as giving the watch too many turns per day.
A well-designed winder is generally programmable to give the watch the correct number of turns per day and to do it in such a way that all motion goes toward winding the mainspring rather than stressing the overwind protection mechanism." [/i]
Thank you for the wonderful insight, and special thanks to my old online friend Shing for the good information.
One thing I discovered since I have had my IWC on the winder, its running SLOW instead of fast. On my writs, its always been a +1 watch. But over the last few days, its lost about 6 to 10 secs overall... But my OMEGA Planet Ocean seems to be fine on it. But it does gain +5 on the wrist... I'll set it to Zero and see what happens.
Could this be a problem with the winder, the watch vs winder or just the winder winds the watch 'differently'?
EDIT I put my IWC on this morning and wore it for about 12 hours, seems to have lost 2 seconds on the wrist ( wound it manually and set it this morning)... thats not the normal behaviour of my IWC. Could my winder have done any damage? I certainly hope no :-( Its only been on the winder since Sunday.
Prior to putting the watch on the winder Sunday, I hadn't worn this watch in about 2 months, so it was just sitting idle.
Sven, when you take your watch off but don't put it on a winder, how do you typically rest it? I believe that for most watches, a vertical orientation (as is the case for crown-up or on most winders) tends to be a slower position than a horizontal orientation (on the back). Also, I've read that many watches will run a bit faster when the power reserve is low so keeping yours on the winder (fully wound much of the time) may cause it to run a bit slower than you are accustomed. That's not to say that a fully wound watch will lose time just that it may run a bit slower than one that is less wound. Note that this is just a bit of speculation...
Thanks! After I typed my last post, I started thinking if this could be the case.
Before I bought the winder, I usually rotated watches about once every 30 or so days, minimum once a week really. So when my IWC was in its rotation, it was on during the day and lying either face down or more commonly on its side (crown up) during the night.
It will be a bit annoying if my watch runs slow on the winder but +1 sec during normal wear. I only have two automatics and was hoping to use the winder for the weeks I don't wear the IWC.
There are many good watch winders out there. Couple important things to keep in mind that makes a good watch winder
Noise: Some watch winders make a lot of noises, you want something really quiet
Motor: Buy from high reputable brands that offer warranty. Sometimes the motor on cheap winders breaks down after couple months. Do your research. Amazon also offers excellent customer service with a good return policy.Orbita and Wolf Designs are really good one however don't buy on their website, they charge more as it is always regular price. Check out www.timelesswatchbox.com they have a good selection with really good prices.
Winding Options - Automatic watches wind from the rotation of the rotor on the back of the movement. Some of them wind in only one direction, and some of them wind in both directions. Winders can generally be set to wind either clockwise all the time (for watches that only wind clockwise), counter clockwise all the time (for watches that only wind counter clockwise) or alternating between clockwise and counter clockwise (for watches that wind in both directions).
Watches that can be wound in both directions will also wind without any problems on a clockwise or counter clockwise program, but if your watch only winds in one direction then you need to set the winder correctly or the watch will not stay wound.
One more important point - Don't buy directly from the manufacture, they usually are more expensive as they don't have sales. I like Wolf Designs as they are a reputable company. I bought mine from www.timelesswatchbox.com and got a really good deal. Really happy with my purchase
